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Appalachia-class Battlestar
The Appalachia-class Battlestar is a class of light battlecruiser/carrier hybrid warships designed and manufactured by Hayakawa Technologies. Since entering service in 94 AF, the class has seen extensive use by it's manufacturer's security services and now acts as the backbone of the New Ossyrian Stellar Navy's battlestar forces. Development The Appalachia-class was first proposed in 84 AF as a replacement for the aging heavy cruisers serving as the main heavy-hitters of the Grand Ossyrian Navy. Designs were finalized in 86 AF, and within two months the keel had been laid down in orbit over Ossyria and construction began. Only the skeleton of the prototype vessel was completed when the Tyran invasion occurred; the drydock where it was under construction, and the ship itself, were annihilated in the opening hours of the battle. In the ensuing chaos, the still-saved blueprints kept offworld were pushed aside as HT rushed to try and remain solvent with 60% of it's assets destroyed on Ossyria. In 93 AF, with the Empire fallen and Hayakawa Tech now struggling to build an effective fleet for defending it's holdings in an increasingly lawless galaxy, the design files were brought back up, and after some brief updates to account for the more advanced technologies now available, construction of a new prototype vessel began. The OSS Appalachia launched in December of 94 AF, and quickly proved to be incredibly effective against the many pirate, bandit and xeno-terrorist forces threatening HT interests. An entire production line was ordered, and within two years dozens of Appalachia-class battlestars were patrolling the Southern Rim. Specifications Frame At over a kilometer and a half in length, the Appalachia was one of the first truly massive capital ships to be constructed after the fall of the Empire. Due to its massive size, the original design for the vessel employs a series of honeycomb-style strut formations to prevent the sheer mass of the ship from tearing itself apart, particularly during high-velocity combat maneuvers. Since the early 110s, newly constructed vessels of the class have been refit with Structural Integrity Fields that use a form of light shielding to reinforce the frame of the ship. Defensive Systems The Appalachia was the testbed for HT's LONDON-class Point Defense System, a series of laser emitters that protects the vessel from incoming enemy missiles and other projectiles. The system proved so successful as to become standard on most NOR vessels. Additionally, the massive power output of the class allowed it to be among the first type of vessels fitted with Hayakawa Tech's experimental Combat Shielding. Constant refits have allowed newer, more efficient, and stronger variants of the technology to be constantly retrofit onto vessels of the class. Power Systems As is needed for such a large vessel, the power output of the Appalachia is downright enormous. The fusion generators employed by the prototype for the class were little more than the generators designed for use in small cities hastily refit for use on a starship. Although the design of these generators has been heavily refined since the 90s, the basic pedigree remains the same; vessels of the class even have sufficient external power outputs that the ship could easily land and provide power for an entire settlement or combat base, given sufficient fuel. Propulsion The propulsion systems aboard the Appalachia are fairly standard in design for Hayakawa Tech, but nonetheless reliable and durable thanks to the company's extensive experience with building warships for the Royal Ossyrian Navy. One notable departure from old Ossyrian designs was a refit of the hyperdrive for extended operational range; while older ships and even the original Appalachia ''prototype were designed to operate within the Southern Rim, the late-90s version called for the ability to deploy from the South to anywhere in the galaxy. The needed time to redesign the hyperdrive systems for this requirement resulted in the largest delay of the project, keeping the first prototype from deploying for an additional four months. Onboard AIs While the ''Appalachia does not employ any high-class or sentient AIs, numerous low-level AIs are used to manage systems on the class and reduce the crew requirements. In particular, the Fire Control System for the vessel utilizes half a dozen 'dumb' AIs to operate the massive array of batteries on the ship, freeing it from the need for a large crew simply to coordinate the hundreds of weapons arrays it posesses. Armament Anti-Fighter Weaponry Anti-Capital Weaponry Category:Ships Category:New Ossyrian Republic